The New King
by Miku Alli
Summary: Ichigo has been living through the nightmare of torture from the hollow in his soul for quite some time now. Darkness overwhelms him, and he falls. Now a merciless being without a heart rises to power, and Ichigo is helpless to stop it. Can he protect those he cares about most? Or will he just fade away? Re-write begins.
1. Chapter 1

**New King Chapter- 1**

**First ****story ever! YEEP! Please, R&R. Sorry for the short first chapter, they will get longer. Disclaimer:**

**I don't own Bleach or its characters. Tite Kubo does. (Wouldn't it be awesome if I did? Don't answer that...)**

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_'The last time I was here... I won the battle. All the times I've fought him, was he holding back? Was he just waiting for when I was vulnerable? All the times I've tried to protect my friends... Were they for nothing?' _Ichigo thought desperately.. He stared at the buildings in the innerscape, the never-ending rain accompanied by deafening thunder. He couldn't do much now that he didn't rule anymore. Not that he would want to rule after what happened. How he could probably never say sorry, and that there was really no one left to forgive him. He'd really messed up.

Zangetsu standing at his side was the only thing keeping him from screaming at the sideways sky for forgiveness. His life, all he worked for. What he almost died for over and over again.. All ruined in his one moment of idiotic courage.

_'Could I ever face Rukia again? After what I did? The blood on my hands? Not even considering if I could take back enough control to do it.'_ Ichigo thought, not really even believing anything anymore.

_"Zangetsu." _he said to his materialized zanpakutou. The only other being in this personal hell. Where he was only left to his thoughts and those thoughts did nothing to ease the guilt.

_"Ichigo.. What you had, is his now."_ His look matched that of Ichigo's, giving up all hope. His zanpakutou knew, as well as he did that there wasn't much that they could do to stop what was coming now.

_"Oh would you saps just SHUT UP! All your self pity is giving me a freaking headache."_ a shrill voice came from all sides, almost engulfing the inner world in its eerie tone. "_I am king. Get over it._"

_"Hichigo..."_ Ichigo said, knowing Hichigo would probably hear him if he even whispered, _"You aren't king. You aren't human. YOU AREN'T KING!" _He was furious, even if he got his life back; it would never be the same, all because of him.

_"Don't you idiots know… Ichigo Kurosaki doesn't exist anymore. Only Hichigo Shirosaki does."_ Then, as in response to Hichigo's anger, Ichigo and Zangetsu were blown down by a gust of wind that also succeeded in knocking the breath out of them.

_"Now all you need to get in your THICK heads that I am the king now, and there is NOTHING you all can do about it!"_ Hichigo's command came crashing down through the innerscape. His emotions severely affected the inner world, as nothing was in Ichigo's control anymore. Then from what they could tell, Hichigo had made it to the Soul Society.

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Head Captain Yamamoto of the 13 court guard squads heard a soft knocking at the door, recognizing the reiatsu; he invited the person to come in.

"Kuchiki Rukia. You wanted something, this isn't the way to-" The head captain started saying, though interrupted by Rukia.

"Sorry sir. But there's not much time." She started saying. "There needs to be an elimination..." Rukia said, her voice wavering. "Of a threat in the human world. Requested party size would be 2-4 captains along with at least 10 seat member Shinigami." Rukia was breathing more heavily in remembering what had happened to her friends, in the hands of this same person.

_'We can't have anymore dead in his hands._' she thought as she was fought to keep her composure by digging into her palms with her fingernails, drawing small amounts of blood.

"2-4 captains? 10 seated? Kuchiki, we haven't used a force that powerful since full-out war." he said with a shocked, unbelieving, and almost amused expression. "Who or what needs to be taken care of so forcefully?" he was now thoroughly curious, his expression told it all. He suddenly wondered if she needed a mental examination.

Rukia took in a piercing breath. She let it out, barely being able to form words. Of a name.. A name she loved.. A name she adored.. A name that had killed Renji, Orihime, and brave shinigami of another squad and then smearing their blood on her and laughing in that shrill voice that she had come to hate. But, it wasn't really him it was the side that, the one she loved had no control over. The only way she could do this now was by reminding her that the person she knew and loved was gone. "Kurosaki Ichigo." she replied as a tear of anger and regret ran down her face.

But before the head captain could process this, a small black-haired shinigami wearing the uniform of the research department ran in in. "Sorry to disturb head captain Yamamoto sir! We have an emergency." he said, taking an apparent pause to hear how mad Yamamoto would be for his intrusion.

"Spit it out boy! We don't have all day." he said, scaring the poor Shinigami out of his wits.

"We... We have a large hollow reiatsu coming from the East Rukongai district sir! It's off the charts! It just appeared, spiked, and destroyed all our scanners in the area." he said, panting to try to recover from the run.

"Weren't those scanners made to detect a reiatsu all the way up to the level of two or three captains releasing all their energy at once?" Yamamoto questioned.

"Yes sir." the small Shinigami replied quickly.

"Rukia, I will speak to you of this matter later, this cannot be ignored." with that the head captain followed the Shinigami out the door.

Rukia sunk to her knees and in a muffled sob mumbled out "Ichigo, stop your other side. Don't let him kill anyone else. Because... Because... I swear... If you threaten to kill one more person... I will kill you." she sobbed, tears streaming down her face without fail. Sticking her zanpakutou into the floor she stopped her tears to say in warning... "Ichigo, run."

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**END OF CHAPTER 1**

**(I finally got the time to fix these first chapters.)**


	2. Chapter 2

**New King- Chapter 2**

**I'm really sorry for the short chapters, I have a horrible thing called frequent writers block. Thank you for the few people who reviewed and favorited, you really made my day.**

**Disclaimer:**

**I don't own Bleach.**

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"Such a nice place to be this time of year..." Hichigo murmured as he walked through the makeshift gate into the Rukongai. "Damn Urahara!" he cursed as he realized he was in Rukongai. He thought he was going to the Seireitei, but looking into when Ichigo got the one-time use gate, Urahara had never said it would get someone into the Seireitei. The words that were used were more like, 'Soul Society'. Which the Rukongai did qualify as the Soul Society he figured.

Hichigo had been walking for a few minutes and was already impatient with it already. _'Why the hell couldn't I already be there!' _he complained to no one in particular. What he didn't notice was, while in his train of thought, he had stopped watching where he was going. Then Hichigo stumbled right over something.

"What the hell was that?" he snarled after regaining his balance. He then looked back, then to see behind him a few steps, was a small boy. In the usual Rukongai garb, he was lying face down in the dirt. Obviously what Hichigo had tripped over. "Get up you little freak." he said to the boy, a little confused why the boy wasn't already up.

A small strained voice replied, "I w-would... B-but something is pressing me d-down." he then gasped for air, loud enough for Hichigo to hear.

"Oh I get it..." Hichigo grinned, a Gin-like smile coming over him. "My reiatsu all by itself is crushing you to the ground like the little baby you are..." he then walked over to the boy, "Are you going to get up? Or am I going to bring you?" he shouted at the boy.

"I'm trying!" the boy cried out in fear and desperation. He then started crying, his tears going into the dry earth below.

Hichigo laughed and picked the boy up by the scruff of his neck. "Are you trying enough? Or are you being a lazy little prick? You're wasting my time." he said, shaking the boy as he spoke.

_"Stop this Hichigo."_ Zangetsu warned from the inner world. _"This child did nothing to you, let him go. Or else."_

"Or else what!" Hichigo shouted, holding up the boy even higher. "You'll stop lending me your power? You do that for too long and we'll all die old man, or not... I could just fully take over and we wouldn't have to-"

_"Stop. You win. Do what you like. But have a heart; this boy did nothing to you._" Zangetsu said, losing the argument with the new king.

"I don't have a heart." he said, putting his hands around the neck of the small Rukongai child. In one swift motion, and with a clear *crack* the child's neck was broken and Hichigo dropped him back onto the ground.

_"You bastard!_" Ichigo shouted to Hichigo. _"That innocent kid never did anything to you!_"

"He was in my way." Hichigo said while stepping over the body of the child and continuing on towards the Seireitei.

"You know Ichigo; I never knew you were such a cruel sick twisted person." Soi Fon said, standing on a roof opposite to were he was. Hichigo decided to let the little 'Ichigo' act go on, just until he could get into the Seireitei.

Hichigo put on his best Ichigo scowl and turned towards Soi Fon. "Well I really don't know wha..." he faked surprise. Like he hadn't known what he was doing. "Did.. Did.. Did I..."

"Too bad I didn't come fast enough to stop you from breaking the neck of some innocent child Kurosaki." she said, a look of disgust on her face. "Exactly why... Did you do that?"

"I didn't... I don't... How... What did I do?" Hichigo said, faking like a pro. Soi Fon, not feeling like she was in any danger hopped off the roof and walked over to Hichigo.

"You must be the massive reiatsu we sensed. Part hollow. Which right now, much more hollow is coming out than anything else." she said to Hichigo, looking slightly confused. "Is your hollow side taking more control? Is that why you killed that child?" she asked him. "Is that why your eyes are black and yellow?"

_'Crap!'_ Hichigo thought. '_How can I put up the Ichigo charade with my eyes like this?' _He then started faking surprise once again. "What! No... No they aren't... No..."

"I can see them perfectly, and they are." Soi Fon said.

"You're lying! Don't lie to me about something... Something like that." Hichigo said very convincingly. He almost grinned at the thought of how well he was doing at manipulating the squad 2 captain, but then remembered a smile would be out of character.

"They are. Something doesn't seem right... About you right now." she said, looking him over. "Let me see your Zanpakutou."

_'Shit.'_ Hichigo cursed under his breath. This shinigami was suspicious. She knew where to look also. The only thing about his outward appearance that had changed other than his eyes, which he hadn't noticed before Soi Fon told him, was his Zanpakutou. It was now opposite, black with a white edge with black wraps.

"Is there a problem?" Soi Fon asked, tensing a little bit in her raising suspicion.

"N-no. Why would there be?" he said, trying to act innocent. _'Well here it goes. What excuse can I make up for this?_' He thought while taking the large zanpakutou off his back. He held it out for Soi Fon to see, all at the same time thinking up an excuse.

"Why are the colors reversed?" she asked. She did have an idea of what it normally looked like, since she had been a witness to a few of his fights. She also knew a little about his viazard abilities, being the leader of the stealth force did mean a considerable amount of information came to her.

"I really don't know..." he said, actually telling the truth. He wasn't sure why his control would change the color of the Zanpakutou or his eyes, but it didn't really bother him at the slightest.

"Bullshit Kurosaki!" she spat at him. "There's something really screwed up about you, and the hollow reiatsu that's leaking out of you is utterly disgusting. Tell the truth Kurosaki... Or I will get it out of you." She said, holding up her zanpakutou Suzemabachi in its shikai form.

Hichigo had finally had it. He wasn't taking anymore shit from this shinigami, no matter if it slowed him down on getting to the Seireitei. "You know what? Maybe there is something up with me?" he said, a grin coming over him. "But I like this right now, and there's nothing you shinigami can do about it. Get it?"

"Us shinigami? Who or what are you?" she asked.

"I really don't have a name, but old man and Ichigo call me Hichigo Shirosaki." He said, putting Zangetsu over his shoulder.

"Well then, Hichigo or whoever you are, I need to arrest you for the slaughter of an innocent soul." She said, taking a ready stance.

"Let's see if you can even try." Hichigo laughed, not even noticing the child that had just run from his hiding place to as far away as he could get from the man he now knew as Hichigo Shirosaki.

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**END OF CHAPTER 2**

**(HAHA! I left you hanging and didn't even give you the fight this chapter! *laughs maniacally*)**


	3. Chapter 3

**New King Chapter- 3**

**Again.. I know you all don't want to hear my excuses for my short chapters.. But encounter the least writers block between the hours of twelve and two am.. So cut me some slack eh? Cookies to all who review or reviewed! **

**Disclaimer:**

**I don't own Bleach.**

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"I won't have to try." Soi Fon said, before flash stepping behind Hichigo and poking him with Suzemabachi, leaving him with a mark across his back.

"Dammit!" Hichigo cursed before flash stepping away. He had underestimated the stealth force captains speed greatly and paid for it. But even he knew that she wasn't aloud to kill him, or was she? He couldn't let that be left to chance though; he would have to kill her before this had the chance to escalate.

"Don't get killed." Zangetsu warned from the inner world.

"I'm not stupid old man. I hadn't planned on it." He said out loud, not really realizing that he had.

"Talking to yourself won't keep you alive." Soi Fon said, flash stepping next to Hichigo attempting to strike one more time. But this time, Hichigo moved his blade in time and blocked her Zanpakutou. He then grinned at what was warming up to be a good fight, an actual challenge. But still a time waster, which made him a bit angry. If this stupid shinigami hadn't showed up, he could be almost to the seireitei by now. All that aside, he intended to have a little fun.

"So you really are serious. But if you were really serious, you would have gone for the one you already made on my back. So you are being hesitant about killing me." Hichigo said smugly. Soi Fon was angered that he found out what was really going on. She knew that she couldn't kill Shirosaki. Kurosaki had been an irreplaceable ally to the soul society. Hichigo really hadn't done anything to justify her killing him right away either.

"So what? But once I get Suzemabachi one centimeter away from a mark, you might change ideas on trying to resist me." She said, anger pulsing through her veins. 'How could this.. this.. lowly hollow be so arrogant? What power had Kurosaki been hiding from us all?' she thought. With a strange howl, Hichigo started swinging the blade by the wraps, and going at Soi Fon. He flash stepped towards her, and kept doing so, matching whenever she flash stepped away. He soon was getting closer to her; she had to attempt to block the blade with Suzemabachi. She was thrown back a few feet, and in the split second she was trying to reorient her surroundings and catch her breath..

"Getsuga Tensho." Hichigo said, a blue burst of reiatsu coming out of the blade, right at her.

"Hado 33! Sokatsui!" she shouted, in a last attempt to save herself a blue explosion of reiatsu came to meet Hichigo's. The two met, but Hichigo's blasted through it, not stopping it much. But what it had done was weaken the attack, so when it hit her it might not be fatal. Once the energy had swept though she was on the ground, and Hichigo stopped her from flash stepping away by standing over her, blade at her throat.

"Stupid shinigami. Did you really think you could go against me? He raised the blade to finish her.

"Stop Kurosaki Ichigo." A deep voice called from behind him.

"What..?" Hichigo wondered, leaving the blade at Soi Fon's throat and turned around. Behind him, Captain Commander Yamamoto was standing studying Hichigo with his normal expression.

"I knew it. When I first got this report I was suspicious… But now I am sure. Kurosaki Ichigo has lost control of his inner hollow. The scanners indicated a large hollow reiatsu mixed with a little shinigami." Yamamoto said.

"So? What are you going to do about it?" Hichigo laughed. He then raised his blade, and swung it down. But before it could reach Soi Fon's throat, it was stopped by Yamamoto. He had flash stepped over just in time to save the second squad captains life. "Stupid old man." He cursed, choosing this time to make his escape. He knew a fight with Yamamoto would be tough, and he didn't have the time for it now.

"Let me at him!" Soi Fon yelled, trying to get up.

"Stay down. A member of fourth squad will be here soon to tend to your injuries." Yamamoto ordered.

"Yes sir." She said in defeat. She wanted to kill that Shirosaki, for that smug attitude, embarrassing her, and for killing an innocent Rukongai child and leaving the brother of the said child to watch while he snapped the small child's neck.

Hichigo flash stepped away. Yamamoto didn't follow, so he didn't feel too pressured. He would soon be in the seireitei and could finish what he came here for. Destroying everything that the old king had ever loved or protected.

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**END OF CHAPTER 3**

**(REVIEW!)**


	4. Chapter 4

**New King Chapter- 4**

**YAY! I'm actually having time to do this (: Cookies to all the reviewers, especially Amaterasu Ai for reviewing every chapter so far. **

**Disclaimer:**

**I don't own Bleach.**

* * *

Hichigo was soon far away from Yamamoto and Soi Fon and even closer to the Seireitei than ever. He took this time, the time before Yamamoto would be able to send out an order for his capture, to visit his inner world. He had to figure out the last things Ichigo was holding onto, the last threads of resistance that was stopping him from taking full control. Finding an abandoned building was easy, lowering his reiatsu so it couldn't be traced as easily, was not. But he was able to and finally slipped into his inner world.

He landed on one of the many buildings he used to aimlessly wander. The sight of the buildings brought up the memories of his time trapped there. Being trapped there was like being lost in a desert. But instead of hot sand and endless thirst there were cold sideways skyscrapers and only the memories of a grouchy teen/substitute soul reaper. Ichigo was sitting on the edge of one of these skyscrapers, staring out into repetitive nothingness. _'Yo horse? You still there?'_he said.

_'I'm not your horse.'_ Ichigo spat, not even turning around. _'Never was, never will be.'_

_'You can deny it for as long as you want, but you can't forever._' Hichigo replied.

_'Why are you here?'_ Ichigo said, standing up and facing Hichigo with a deep scowl. _'Because if you're just here to gloat, you can leave. You won't get a response from me.'_

_'No... I'm just here to try to understand you more.'_ Hichigo said, walking over to Ichigo and sitting down where Ichigo was before. _'All the time I spent here, and I still don't understand why you try._'

_'Why I try what?_'

'_Why you don't just give up. Why did you go through the soul society and fight so many people to save Rukia? Why did you go to Hueco Mundo to save Orihime? When you could have easily just not done anything, you had to risk your life like reckless idiot? I just don't get it...' _Hichigo said, trying to get Ichigo to open up to him, to find that one thing… _'Why are you sitting here, trying to find some way to defeat me and become king, and be in control again? I know you haven't given up. If you had, you would be gone.'_

_'Why I try? Maybe because I have people I care about, that I think are worth way more than my life._' He replied. It was starting to really confuse him why Hichigo would really even care, wasn't all Hichigo wanted was to destroy him?

Hichigo almost jumped up and cheered. Finally the way to break the old king. He stood up and brushed himself off, even though there was nothing to brush off, trying to hide a grin of satisfaction. He played the old king, he got what he wanted. This is why, he was king, and Ichigo was his horse. He left and he could tell Ichigo was going back to sit at that same spot, to try to think of some way out of his current situation. When, he just unintentionally made his situation worse.

When he got out of the inner world, he knew what he had to do first. Find Rukia Kuchiki, the girl, from what he remembered hearing in Ichigo's memories, stopped the rain. '_Whatever that meant_, _anyways.'_

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**END OF CHAPTER 4**

**(Short chapter, sorry)**


	5. Chapter 5

**New King Chapter- 5**

**I'm incredibly sorry for the short-ness of the last chapter. Also for taking a week to get this up, winter break just ended and I'm almost caught up to the anime episodes. Writers block is hitting me like a freight train on this story. Jigokucho means hell butterfly. I'm not sure how they get a Senkaimon, so I said she called it. Anyone wants to educate me, feel free to.**

**Disclaimer:**

**I don't own Bleach.**

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Yamamoto had almost gone after the orange haired hollow controlled teen, but then realized it would be no use. The boy would run, not wanting to engage someone that might actually pose a threat in a fight. He could tell the inner hollow was trying to get something done, and wanted it done fast. So he decided the best thing possible to do would be to order an order for capture throughout the Seireitei. High level, since this wasn't some ordinary criminal. This human/shinigami/hollow hybrid was one of the strongest shinigami he had ever seen in all his time as Captain Commander. Taking down Soi Fon was no easy task, but he did it like it was child's play. He had also achieved all this power in months, not 100's of years.

"Captain Commander sir!" a fourth squad shinigami said, running from the direction of the Seireitei with 5 more comrades. "We where out near this area of the Rukongai when we got this order. What do you request of us?" the shinigami said, trembling in the sight of the Captain Commander. But he was used to this, being in the position he was.

"Heal Captain Soi Fon and if her injuries are extensive take her to the 4th squad barracks for further treatment." Yamamoto said, turning away from the 4th squad members and going back towards the Seireitei. He sent out a Jigokucho to take the order for the arrest of the substitute shinigami. Soon, all high ranking officers in the Seireitei would receive this message. He just hoped that would be enough.

When Hichigo got out of the building, there wasn't the stealth force outside waiting for him, so he had something to be thankful for. He soon found his bearings and spotted the Seireitei walls off in the distance. Knowing that he didn't have much time, he set off in a sprint, eventually shunpo'ing and moving amazingly fast. Knowing that this would give off more reiatsu, but soon he would basically be public enemy #1 in the Seireitei any time now and he didn't have the time to worry about alerting some low level shinigami of his presence. They probably wouldn't be able to catch up anyways.

He tried to remember where the Kuchiki girl might be. In Ichigo's memories, he remembered that she was an unranked shinigami, but in what squad? After thinking for quite some time, he remembered something said about Kaien Shiba. _'But which squad was he in?_' he contemplated. Now another name came to mind. Ukitake. Jushiro Ukitake. _'Now who the hell was he?'_ he wondered.

Hichigo soon slowed down and decided that he would have to have some Rukongai soul tell him. He walked for a minute, knowing that all the souls who had seen his shunpo might be less willing to tell him things. Even though he was sure his eyes would scare off people too, he would get someone to tell him. He saw his chance when a food market came into view. Vendors would be less willing to run away and leave their merchandise unguarded to thieves, he figured.

As soon as he entered the crowd, people almost made an aisle for him to walk through. They where scared of the mysterious stranger with the shinigami robes, the massive sword, and the creepy black eyes with yellow irises. He almost chuckled at these peoples fear. It was so ironic how lower souls could judge fear based on appearance so well. He went up to an overweight cabbage dealer who he could see now was trying to decide between running away and staying with his cabbage.

"I have a question for ya." Hichigo said, trying to keep the amusement out of his voice about all the fretting people.

"Wha-what.. Do you... Need? Just... Here! Have a head of cabbage! Free of charge." The chubby cabbage dealer said, fumbling in fear so much, he even almost dropped it.

"Do you know who Jushiro Ukitake is?" Hichigo asked, hoping that this scared chubby man might know something.

"Y-yeah. My br-brother became a shinigami and serves under that man." The cabbage dealer said, putting the cabbage down understanding that the intimidating man wasn't there for cabbage.

"Which squad?" Hichigo asked again. "Do you know which part of the Seireitei their barracks are?" he also added. He figured he picked the right person. The person who looked at him with fear and a puzzled expression when he entered the market, like this shopkeeper did, someone who turned out knowing what he needed to know. The man did seem to know something about shinigami.

"13th... But I have no clue where the barracks are." The cabbage dealer said.

"Good. That's all I need to know." Hichigo said with a satisfied expression. He then made his way out of the market, taking an apple off the stand at the end. The poor apple dealer almost by instinct shouted at him for doing so, but Hichigo sent an evil smile in the apple dealer's general vicinity. The apple dealer then turned away, seeming to be breathing quite heavily. He took a bite out of the apple, suddenly wishing that Ichigo would just let go so he could have his true form, and then he would really be feared.

Rukia had made it back to her barracks, half-expecting the head-captain to order her back to his office and yell at her for making a hole in his floor. But whatever he had to go do seemed important. Even urgent enough to get him rushing out the door, which she had no clue what that could be. In everything so far he had stayed and gave orders, not really participating till it was absolutely necessary. 'What was different about now?' she wondered.

As her mind drifted back to the incident in Yamamoto's office, it also drifted back to Ichigo, Orihime, Renji… and it all played through her mind. The way he snapped their necks and laughed, his irises turning to yellow and the outer parts turning to black. _'Where's the real Ichigo?'_ she questioned, _'Does the real Ichigo still exist somewhere?'_ This she really questioned, because she knew Ichigo couldn't have had a part in what happened, or did he?

* * *

**Flashback:/-/**

The hollow wasn't a normal hollow, and they all knew that much. The strange tentacles, the seeming electrical charges that came off of it at times, and the 4 eyes, they could all tell this hollow had some kind of underlying power, something that could prove deadly if they blindly charg-

"ICHIGO!" Rukia yelled at the blindly charging Ichigo. He was shunpo'ing through the air towards the monster, in his normal hollow fighting way. Ichigo turned around and smiled at her, confidence radiating. She knew he couldn't tell there was something wrong with this hollow. But it was too late. We he was not ten feet away from the mask, the hollow shot a tentacle out at a near shunpo speed and grabbed Ichigo. He was trapped.

"Dammit!" he cursed at the hollow, and struggled to get free, but within seconds he went limp. Rukia was left to look at the limp Ichigo in shock, not really knowing what to do. Renji and Orihime had similar expressions, not really believing what they just saw.

"Kurosaki-kun…" Orihime muttered.

"Roar Zabimaru!" Renji called out, as he immediately went at the hollow with his blade going for the tentacle that was holding Ichigo. The hollow just knocked away the blade with another shunpo speed tentacle, and laughed, while Renji went red with anger.

"You petty shinigami and strange human are wasting your time, you don't compare to my power. Your orange haired friend has had his bad intentions released. All his morals and everything else have been erased. All he has left is the dark side that everyone has, the side that thirsts for revenge, retribution, and is fueled by rage! Nothing will ever stop it! That is my power! Stand before it, and succumb to it, because it is now your fate." The hollow roared, laughing at the expressions that the shinigami and the human were giving, messing with emotions, what he lived for.

Soon reinforcements showed up, five shinigami from squad ten lined up next to Rukia, Renji, and Orihime. They where going to ask about the situation, but they could see it wasn't good right when they saw the insanely powerful substitute shinigami limp in the hollow's tentacle. They immediately unsheathed their zanpakutou's at the sight of this. Rukia put an arm out, saying only "If you go out, you'll be trapped too." At that they without knowing it took a step back, honestly scared of whatever this monster was.

All direction was turned to Ichigo when he started coughing. The hollow was shocked, "You are supposed to be unconscious!" he blurted. Ichigo continued to cough, but this time, he was coughing up a white liquid.

"ICHI-" Rukia cried out, only to have her mouth covered by Renji.

"Don't call attention to us." He said quietly, and then he told everyone go back into the trees. They all found a spot behind various bushes and watched what was unfolding. But they couldn't even see what was happening anymore. A dense dark cloud of reiatsu was covering Ichigo and all that could be seen was the hollow, waving his tentacle around frantically trying to figure out what was going on. Then it all happened, the tentacle just exploded.

"HOW DARE YOU! YOU STUPID SHINGAMI!" he cried out in pain. Then, the dense black reiatsu around Ichigo cleared. What stepped out onto the ground wasn't a shinigami. What was now standing, facing the hollow was a hollow with horns coming out its head, and a hole through its chest. It had parts of a shinigami uniform still left, and a mask covered its face. The sword didn't change, it was still in shikai. The long orange hair and the sword where the only reminders of who this hollow might still be. Now the squid like hollow had a look of real fear come across it's before arrogant expression.

Orihime knew what this was. "Run! Just run!" she yelled at everyone. She remembered that time in Hueco Mundo, when Ichigo went into the same form. He couldn't differentiate friend from foe in this form, as she remembered from him attacking Uryu. Everyone who was still shocked by what Ichigo turned into, didn't even hear her frantic cries.

"Well, well, well. I could say thank you hollow, for finally giving me a way to beat down my weak king." The orange-haired hollow said, before starting a cero in his horns. His voice was strange and hollow like, with an amused tone. Now all those who knew Ichigo knew that this wasn't Ichigo. Instead of a scowl on his face there was only a crazed grin that could even be seen through the mask. When the cero was fired, the hollow was basically incinerated before it had the chance to say anything, or even move. Those in the bushes where feeling a mixture of relief and new worry, _'What would Ichigo do to them?_' went through most of their minds.

Renji stepped out of the bushes. Rukia was trying her best to pull him back, but he wouldn't budge. She then sank back behind the bush now worrying for Ichigo and Renji both. "Ichigo." he said, his voice wavering in pure fear in whatever Ichigo had become.

"Ichigo what?" he spat. "Do you think I'm king? If you do, you've got to be kidding me." he said with a disgusted expression, as if even the mention of Ichigo annoyed him. "I'm called a few things, but the only one I can really stand is Hichigo Shirosaki. Got it shinigami?" he said, looking angrier by the second.

"Where is Ichigo." Renji said, fear making him shake, but the reiatsu Hichigo was putting off also might be to blame.

"Not in existence anymore. Now will you stop pissing me off?" he said, raising his voice a bit. "You stupid shinigami annoy me to death, you hear?" as he shouted, his reiatsu raising even more. Renji was getting forced down by just the sheer power of the reiatsu; he was having to fight to just stay off his knees.

"Ichigo don't do..." Renji said, fighting to say anything at all. He was now forced to his knees by just the sheer force of reiatsu.

"For the last time! I'm not that weakling!" Hichigo yelled as he walked towards Renji. "After this you won't ever call me that again." he said, as he sent a foot at Renji's head. When the foot made contact, a loud crack came from Renji's neck. Rukia couldn't think. She wouldn't, no she couldn't believe that Ichigo would.. She kept trying to remind herself it was Hichigo, but she was starting to doubt even herself.

Orihime instantly started sobbing and ran out to help Renji. She soon found herself to the same fate as Renji, forced onto the ground and neck broken by a swift kick to the neck.

Rukia's instincts took hold and she ran for her life just before Hichigo turned to the shinigami in the bushes. But she didn't get far before she also was pressed down by the massive reiatsu. Hichigo walked over with a sadistic grin and snapped the necks of all the remaining shinigami, except for her. She watched in utter silence, not able to even comprehend what was happening. She knew she was next.

As Hichigo approached her all while talking to himself. "This is life king! Being the controller of life and death! But wait? Why do I call you king anymore? I am king. You've been dethroned!" he laughed and his reiatsu soared, sending Rukia even further into the dirt.

"Ichigo! Wake up! Wake up!" Rukia screamed as Hichigo towered over her, maniacal laughter ensuing. She knew it was over, she just hoped someone would be able to stop him. "Save me Ichigo." she said, her words barely past a whisper at the breath being pressed out of her lungs.

Hichigo's hand shot up and grabbed the mask. "Not now! You son of b-!" Hichigo screamed stumbling back, thrashing back and forth. "You can't be king again! I won't let you!" he shouted, with screams in-between.

"Go away Hichigo." A voice sounding of the original orange-haired soul reaper came out. Suddenly, the hollow like creatures out white skin cracked apart revealing a more human skin. The hollow hole disappeared and the longer hair returned to being shorter once again. One difference, the eyes where still black and yellow.

"Ichi-" Rukia started to say, but she was cut off by Ichigo.

"I don't have much time. Run away from here. Don't come looking for me." Ichigo said urgently. "Get out of here! Get away from me. I'll hold him off as long as I can." Rukia complied out of fear and shunpo'ed away in the other direction. She knew her life depended on how fast she could get away. Tears streamed down her face, as she realized the severity of what had happened. Orihime, Renji, and innocent squad 10 members. All dead, with their blood lying in Ichigo's hands. She knew deep down, that it wasn't him, as his appearance and take over in the end proved. But it was still a part of him, was it?

As soon as she was in a clear area, she called for a Senkaimon to take her back to the soul society.

**End of flashback:/-/**

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**End of Chapter 5.**

**((Attention to all of you amazing readers out there. I just changed many things in chapter 1, so I would suggest taking a look.))**


	6. Chapter 6

**New King Chapter- 6**

**Hey everyone. I really don't have any excuses for these late chapters anymore do I? What has it been, 3 weeks? Well here's the truth, plain and simple. I am losing inspiration for this story, and hitting the biggest wall of writers block ever on it. **

**2/20/11-**

**... I don't know what to say. After rereading this today I conclude that due to the mixture of sugar and horror stories came the first version of this chapter. One thing I should have done long ago, this chapter is FIXED.**

* * *

As the South Gate came into view, he sized up the guardian. Jidanbo was the name? As he remembered from Ichigo's incursion into the soul society. Big and strong as he was, if Ichigo could defeat him as easily he did back then, he was sure the giant would be no problem now.

He strolled up and asked the giant, "Are you going to let me through? Or am I going to have to make yah?"

This caused Jidanbo to look around frantically and wonder where the voice came from. He then looked down, and saw Hichigo. He looked startled, and he had well reason to be. That was the soul reaper that beat him in that ryoka invasion. But something was different. The reiatsu seemed slightly familiar, but the rest was pure hollow.

"Aren't you-"

"Don't even think about calling me that." Hichigo spat, looking up at the giant.

"But that orange hair...-"

"I hope to get rid of it as soon as possible." he replied, pulling his zanpakutou out and pointing it at the giant. "Now are you going to open the gate? Or what?"

"Well o'course I can't. You know what happened the last time I let someone through." he reminded Hichigo, but he didn't need reminding. Looking through Ichigo's memories before confronting Jidanbo gave him all the information he needed.

"Am I just going to have to make yah? If poor little Ichigo could take you all that time ago, then I sure can." Hichigo said, now twirling the zanpakutou by the wrappings. He was itching for a fight, even a fight as easy as this one. Maybe when he was done he could cut up the giant into little pieces and..- _'Stop. Hold up. If I don't get my butt into the Seireitei soon I'm going to have to fight my way in.'_ he reminded himself, and he also felt that Zangetsu and that weakling Ichigo agreed.

"So move your fat butt and open the gate." Hichigo said, twirling it a bit faster.

"I can't do that little guy." he said, shifting from foot to foot a bit out of pure boredom and lack of concern. He obviously didn't remember to well.

"Little guy..." Hichigo gritted through his teeth. His face was so red he had tick marks that practically mirrored Hitsugaya. But this embarrassment turned to rage, and a dark reiatsu enveloped him. An eerie voice that sounded like it came out of a hollow itself. "How would you like to be...? Cut down to size?"

Jidanbo flashed a look of worry, and then three deep cuts appeared on his torso. He didn't even have a chance to raise his axes as his knees buckled and his hands where on the ground, struggling to keep his trembling body up.

"I'll bring you down here, won't I?" Hichigo said, maniacal laughter ensuing and consuming him as he flash stepped and cut, flash stepped and cut, until no part of Jidanbo was bigger than Hichigo himself.

"Can anyone track him? He's mostly a hollow for heavens sake! It shouldn't be hard to do." Captain Kurotsuchi complained as he paced the lab, wondering what to make of this situation. _'Yamamoto sending out and order like that, was very un-Yamamoto like.'_ he thought, continuing his pacing and every few seconds or so telling his so called incompetent squad members to hurry up. _'This 'hollow-Kurosaki' must be a big problem to him then. Only if he would of let me test on the boy, so many possibil-'_

"Captain Kurotsuchi!" a voice called from the back, it was Rin who had seemed to find something.

"What!" he practically growled, he hated being interrupted in thought.

"I just got a report that someone found Jibando outside the west gate mutilated..."

"Mutilated as in how?" Kurotsuchi asked, his overall curiosity taking over all common thought as usual.

"Um... Cut up into pieces." he said, even him seeming a bit disturbed by this information.

"Ooh. Sounds interesting! Tell me this, was it like a dissection? Or was it just like Kenpachi on a field day?" Kurotsuchi asked, interested.

"Definitely Kenpachi field days like. The organs were cut up to as if they didn't exist as possible specimens, like you would have used them for captain."

Kurotsuchi flashed a look of disgust and held his head. "Seems most likely to assume that the culprit is already inside the Seireitei I presume?"

"The report only states that the gate seems like it was moved, but they aren't sure because Jibando hadn't actually been the one to move it."

"Well well well. This might be a little more exciting, won't it?" Kurotsuchi said, a smile coming across his features. "When this is all said and done, I might have a pretty interesting specimen in my possession."

Rangiku and Shuehei were currently passed out on the floor of squad ten barracks. The sight of the murder disturbing them so much that, they had decided after sending in their report to go drink themselves off of it. Sake bottles littered the floor next to them, along with a few other members of the investigation team. Except for one shinigami of the investigation team, they were all there. They also wouldn't be waking up for quite some time.

Hichigo was lost. He had exactly no clue whatsoever where he was. "It's not like this place has a map or anything, or actual signs." he cursed aloud. Searching the horizon, he saw the white tower. Rukia may have been there before, but she sure wasn't there now. "What to do... What to do..." he murmured, to soon be approached by a shinigami.

Hichigo tensed up, until he saw this shinigami's face. The man was stumbling around, looked like he was high on something, or both. Drunk the man was, very drunk.

"Rangiiikku. Where arre youu?" he chanted over and over again as he stumbled around aimlessly. Currently he was walking in a circle tripping over his own two feet.

Hichigo watched him for a few seconds, and finally just gave up. He couldn't stand here for a second longer. "Yo stupid? Are you in your right mind?" he asked.

"Rangiku? Is that youu?" the man said, turning around towards Hichigo.

"No. But if you come any closer, I will slit your throat." Hichigo said, pulling out the white sword with a black edge and pointing it at him.

The man soon realized the severity of his situation quickly with a sword pointed in his face. He attempted to reason, "W-woah... M-man.. Um.. If I can do anyt-thing... Or..." he said with a stutter.

"You know," Hichigo said, with a wild grin spreading across his features. "I do have something I need you for."

Hichigo shunpo'ed behind the man and held his sword across his neck. The blade was sharp enough to leave a tiny scratch on the man's neck where the blade just touched his skin. "Show me where the squad 13 barracks are, or expect this blade to leave more than a scratch on your neck."

"I g-guess I can show y-yah." the man said, and the blade was released from his neck, and then pointed at the back of his head.

"Hurry up. Kay?" Hichigo said, starting losing his patience with the drunken man very quickly.

Yamamoto slammed his fist down in anger and said to Soi Fon, who he had specifically called to his office for one reason and one reason only, "Find Kurosaki, and bring him to me. Kill him if necessary."

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**End of Chapter 6**

**((Imagine the tune to Somewhere Over the Rainbow while reading this, it will all make sense.**

**Somewhere over Hueco Mundo...**  
**Probably on the roof...**  
**Hichigo murdered a speaker...**  
**That was driving making me insane.**  
**I was trying to find the power cord...**  
**That fed it electricity..**  
**But I had no luck in that..**  
**So I had Hichigo kill it for me...**  
**I guess I kind of feel bad now..**  
**No I really don't.**  
**Because if I hear this song one more time..**  
**I'm going to slit my own throat..))**

**((Doesn't make sense..))**


	7. Chapter 7

**New King Chapter-7**

**I'm baack XD. Anyways, as for a treat I made this a very exciting chapter. Long too. This chapter finally got written because of a long car ride, and a dead cell phone. So enjoy. This story is taking a more sadistic turn, so yeah.. that's all. Review, as it's the thing that brought this story back to life and it's the only thing that will keep it alive. It's like a car... Stop giving it gas and it just stops. Also made some changes to the chapter before this.. Don't really know what was going on when I wrote that...x.x**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Bleach, it wouldn't do so well, because if Tite Kubo didn't update for three weeks people would get mad. I'm sorry. *dodges sharp objects and cleans the puke off this story*

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**

Even though the man was incredibly drunk, he knew were to go. In just a few minutes Hichigo was at the squad thirteen barracks and the man stumbled back to wherever he had come from. Hichigo just let him, seeing that dealing with him would just waste time.

The barracks were quite empty, other than the occasional squad member running about. But that didn't concern him. Those who noticed him ran off to go tell higher ups. But they wouldn't make it in time. Not to save the life of Rukia Kuchiki anyways. Finally he would be king, once the one barely holding on had no one left to protect. Of course Ichigo's family might still keep him alive, but if that were the case he could just go to the world of the living and kill them. It was all just that easy. 'What a weak weak king.' Hichigo mused as he went towards the personal quarters, making sure to check every single room.

* * *

In the back rooms of the barracks everything was considerably silent. Other than Ukitake's labored breathing, the room was silent. Ukitake had worried a bit too much about the special order and was pretty stressed. That's all it took to make him take a long nap. After the incident with Ichigo, Rukia decided she would watch over Ukitake rather than go with the search teams. She wasn't sure she could handle seeing him like that anytime soon. Or ever. But that all changed when she heard some form of sadistic cackling down the hall. He was here.

* * *

"Rukia Rukia! Come out wherever you are!" Hichigo cackled, kicking open separate doors and peering inside each one of them. This was fun for him. Like a hunt, a deadly hunt. But what made him even more excited would be the prize at the end. The death of that annoying little soul reaper, and the overthrowing of his king. _'What fun!'_ he thought, while kicking open another door.

One or two more doors he became bored with knocking them down, and he started devising different interesting ways to beat each one of them down. A fun game it was, and made him even more anxious. One was hit with a Getsuga Tensho, another with a Cero. The third with a Getsuga Tensho/Cero combination. Unlike Ichigo, Hichigo was quite capable of producing a Cero whenever he felt the need. Almost as easy as breathing.

He was almost about to try a Getsuga Tensho in bankai when he felt a captain level reiatsu down at the end of the hall. Curious, he went over and kicked open the door. To his surprise, Rukia Kuchiki, was in the room, looking very frightened. There was even Ukitake also. He guessed a sleeping Ukitake didn't have the ability to mask his spiritual pressure. But that didn't concern him. He would deal with Ukitake after he had finished off Kuchiki. '_Could my day get any better?_' he thought, putting Zangetsu on his back. He would make the Kuchiki girl suffer with his own hands.

* * *

Soi Fon and many members of the stealth squad had finally arrived at the squad 13 barracks. A frenzied report from some fleeing members of this squad had said that Kurosaki Ichigo had showed up there. For what reason she had no clue, but she had a nagging feeling it had something to do with Rukia Kuchiki.

The first thing they noticed was almost every door was knocked in. Most of them were kicked in, but it was easy to see that some on the end had been hit by Kurosaki's famed Getsuga Tensho. There was no surprise when she felt the huge hollow reiatsu either, no surprise at all.

* * *

Rukia couldn't believe her eyes. Ichigo had just kicked in the door, and was now staring at her like he wanted to kill. But then she saw the eyes. This wasn't Ichigo. This was the monster he became back when everyone had died. Back when Ichigo protected her for the last time. She backed up quickly, going up against the back wall. Resisting the urge to scream. But his reiatsu brought her down to the floor, head pressed down under the immense pressure. '_It's happening again' _she thought in fear.

Her body forced down the ground by the reiatsu she attempted to get up, but all that work was in vain, since it did nothing. All she could do was lay there, waiting for death to come. In the hands of someone at some point she thought she loved.

* * *

Watching Rukia squirm against his ever increasing reiatsu made him laugh even more. "This is what it feels like to be the hunter!" he said in delight. This was like his own personal high, it made him almost dizzy in the sure joy of it all. But there was one nagging feeling he couldn't point out, one that was coming ever increasing, and annoying.

_'Stop.. Stop.. Stop.._' a far distant voice chanted in his head.

_'So I guess Ichigo isn't dead yet._' he thought, sighing. _'I guess I'll have to fix that.'_ he told himself, as he crouched down to the ground and picked up the petite soul reaper by the neck.

* * *

She screamed in pain, it just hurt. It was as if her body just wanted to go down back to the ground, but he, he wasn't allowing it to. Her whole body throbbed in the ever increasing pain. It was excruciating. "Stop.. Please.. St-"

"Begging won't help yah." Hichigo said, then adding, "You sound like a certain broken record in my head, and both of you are annoying me. Do you know what I do to annoying things?" he asked, giving her a sadistic grin. She didn't answer, and he shook her once again, increasing the pain. She was in tears now, not able to handle this anymore.

"Cry some more and maybe you can get the annoying voice in my head to cry too. Do you know how happy that would make me? Do you?" he said, dropping her to the ground. He then sent a sharp kick to her side, sending her rolling towards the wall. All the tears just kept falling even faster than before. She couldn't stop no matter how hard she tried, no matter how hard she resisted. This sadistically grinning monster was becoming the essence of all her nightmares now.

* * *

Soi Fon shunpo'ed forward and noticed one thing, other than the ever increasing cries and torment of Rukia Kuchiki, along with the insane laughter of the Kurosaki boy. Ukitake was also in the room, currently unconscious. A gotei 13 captain as he was, her first priority in this situation would be to get him out of danger, and that was were she would use the element of surprise that she still had.

She told her subordinates to stand by to take Ukitake to safety, as she pinpointed where in the room he was. She then saw the section of wall that would bring her nearest to him. She lined up and then, went for it. The wall broke as she practically crashed through it. The reiatsu was heavy in the room, but she did her best to ignore it as she was scooping Ukitake into her arms and shunpo'ing back out. She hadn't even taken a glance in Kurosaki's direction, since even a glance would take precious time that she didn't have.

Once the stealth force had gotten Ukitake, they quickly shunpo'ed off to take him, "Anywhere other than here." as Soi Fon had said. They had also gone back for reinforcements, and Soi Fon just hoped they would return in time.

Now her attention was back to stopping Kurosaki. She just hoped she hadn't been too late.

* * *

Hichigo had noticed the second the wall had broke through, and he had tensed up, expecting a fight. But she had shunpo'ed out as quickly as she had come in and taken Ukitake with her. He growled at the thought of his next victim being taken away, but then he reminded himself Soi Fon would be much more fun. They also had a fight to finish, as he remembered.

Hichigo then put his attention back to Rukia, as he still had to finish what he started. He then raised his reiatsu a little more at this point, making it hard for the Kuchiki girl to breathe. He then went over the ways to kill her._ 'So many different ways ...'_ he thought, smiling. Just when he had almost decided, he felt something coming up behind him. Making a quick shunpo to the side, he barely avoided getting Soi Fon's shikai put through his back. She soon was at it again, and he easily shunpo'ed to avoid the attacks. But she was expecting this, and had a plan going. What Hichigo didn't notice, is that he was getting ever increasingly closer to being in a corner. Even though he could easily break through the walls, the split second he spent doing that would be at her advantage, and that advantage she planned to use.

The time came and when his back was to the wall, he directed a punch at it to free more space to move. But when the wall was destroyed he had the small blade of Suzemabachi resting on his neck. "So, are you going to give it up now?" she said, "It will just be easier if I don't have to kill you."

"Who said I was going to let you kill me?" he asked, as he pointed his free hand at her, and his palm glowed with a red light. Soi Fon didn't have time to react as she was blown through several walls by his Cero. She was instantly knocked out cold. But in result of this, the ceiling had finally collapsed, amazingly leaving Rukia unharmed. He was becoming tired of the games, and finally decided. Since she was Ichigo's last thing holding him to this life, he would give her a semi-peaceful death by snapping her neck. It was the least he thought he could do, after all.

He picked up Rukia, and she was silent. She knew what was coming next. Hichigo cackled as he held her up, just basking in the fear once more. But then, he stopped cackling. He dropped Rukia and she was once again pinned to the ground. The once cackling Hichigo now was holding his head, as it was throbbing. It felt as he was about to explode. Just four words he could hear and they were repeated over and over, filling every last space in his mind.

_'I will protect her. I will protect her. I will protect her.'_ The voice repeated.

"NO!" Hichigo hissed, "You aren't…" sinking down to his knees.

_'I will protect her._' It repeated once again.

"King.. Is.. no.." Hichigo said, trailing off. He had lost control.

* * *

Ichigo's eyes flickered back their normal brown and he stopped putting out the reiatsu Hichigo had been putting on the room, allowing Rukia to move again. She was speechless,_ 'Could Ichigo really..'_ she wondered. But he didn't move his gaze from the floor. "Ichigo…" she said softly, trying to get him to say something, anything, anything at all. He started shaking uncontrollably, still saying nothing.

"I k-killed those people didn't I?" he said, finally putting his head up to meet Rukia's eyes.

"Well-"

"I killed those people didn't I? I couldn't protect anyone could I? COULD I?" he asked again, still shaking.

"You protected me Ichigo." She told him.

* * *

Rukia and Ichigo were quiet for a moment, until he said, "I don't.. I don't know how long I can…" His gaze then redirecting itself at the floor once again.

"You can what?" she asked him, even though she already had a good enough idea of what saying. He wouldn't be able to stay here with the soul society wanting to capture him. Not even maybe. "I can help you get out-"

"I don't know how long I can keep him back." Ichigo replied, and then explaining, "We both are co-owners of this body now, and until I can change that, you should stay as far away from me as you can. He can come back. So just please.. Go.. It will be better that way." He said, getting up onto his feet once again. But then he was soon doubled over again, clutching his head in pain. "Go.." he croaked. As Ichigo's voice faded out, the cackling.. The cackling came back. The eyes turned back to yellow and the cackling was filling the wall-less remains of the room that used to be. Rukia was frozen in fear, unmoving.

"Oh goody." Hichigo said, smiling. "Weakling wasn't able to chase you off in time." He said, walking over to Rukia.

"Bakudo 61. Rikujokoro" A voice of a certain Byakuya Kuchiki said from behind Hichigo as this kido caused six yellow beams to appear on him, not allowing him to move. But only just for a bit, as Hichigo soon pumped all the reiatsu he had into breaking it, which he did.

"Will you pests ever leave me alone?" Hichigo complained sarcastically, as he grabbed his zanpakutou, resting it on his shoulder in case Byakuya should attack. He was about to attack Byakuya himself when his head started aching once again. "Let me kill him! Stay out of this! I'm saving you also!" Hichigo screamed.

_'You. Won't Move.'_ Ichigo ordered from the inner world. Hichigo was now on his knees once again, as just the sheer willpower from Ichigo was keeping him there.

"I am in control. We don't share this body." Hichigo said, breaking the little hold Ichigo did have for the second there, standing up once again.

But then he heard the swish of several shunpo's and now he was facing not one, but 4 captains of the gotei 13, one of the being the captain commander. Mayuri, Byakuya, Komamura, and Yamamoto were now surrounding Hichigo. Rukia stayed quiet, unsure of what to do in this situation. Everyone was quiet, even Hichigo. Then Yamamoto spoke up, "Kurosaki Ichigo. You have killed many under my command today, and you are under arrest."

"What makes you think I'll go with any of you? Do you take me for stupid? If you capture me, Mayuri here will go wild running tests on me, and I'll be executed. Do you think I'll let that happen?" he said, launching forward in a last throw it all away attempt at freedom right at the captain commander himself. Yamamoto held his blade up to block the blow, and even though the force of it was intense, he was able to stay in one spot all the same. Hichigo then attempted to cut Yamamoto, but every strike was parried by his blade. "Getsu-" he started to say, until he felt something on his wrists. "Reiatsu suppressors! I can break through these! YOU JUST SEE!" he screamed, pumping all his reiatsu into the bracelets, coincidentally making the air in the room much heavier. Rukia wasn't able to breathe, and it was starting to get very uncomfortable for the captains in the room. But within seconds, the reiatsu suppressors did their job, and no more reiatsu was pouring out of Hichigo.

"Byakuya, Komomura, take Kurosaki to a cell in the 1st squad barracks. Then we have an emergency captains meeting. I expect you both to be there on time. You too Mayuri." He said, as he left, probably going to report to central 46 of the day's events.

Byakuya and Komomura dragged the screaming Hichigo away, shunpo'ing once they got out of the remains of the building.

Mayuri soon followed, as he wanted to keep tabs on his new specimen.

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**End of chapter 7**

**((All I can say is.. poor Ichi))**


	8. Chapter 8

**New King Chapter- 8**

**Holy crud. I'm back. Writers block got beaten down long enough for me to make this chapter. Hope this isn't boring, not my favorite chappie, but eh. Whatever. It's getting better, soon soon. Fyi, i'm sadistic and crazy. Just so you know. **

**I don't own Bleach.**

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"We have to move him sir." He's broken half the bars and is attempting to make his way through the kido barrier with his fists." a young low level shinigami explained to Yamamoto, who truthfully didn't like what he was hearing one bit. He never thought Kurosaki, or what ever inner hollow that was possessing Kurosaki would be so powerful. He hadn't gone to see the boy ever since his capture not two days ago, but he heard the reports. Destroyed cells, destroyed reiatsu inhibitors, and just about anything else that could possibly be destroyed, was.

Yamamoto sighed. This even surprised the messenger shinigami a bit. Pacing over to his large wood desk he looked back and said, "Alright. I'll have him removed from the 1st barrack cells soon. Just make sure he doesn't escape before that."

The shinigami nodded and ran out of the office like his life depended on it.

* * *

Pacing was the only way he didn't go insane. His knuckles were bleeding, but there were dents in the one wall that hadn't been covered in kido. Every time someone came by he pretended to be hitting the kido covered walls just to fool them. They were easy to fool all the same. After just an hour he figured out that a lower leveled shinigami came to check on him every five minutes, and a seated shinigami every twenty.

After two days, 3 walls, and a fourth pretty soon, he figured it couldn't get much worse.

Figuring that soul society would give him much more time alive anyways. He bet central 46 wanted him deader than dead. A hollow soul? A hollow soul wouldn't, and couldn't ever be accepted in the soul society, even if Ichigo Kurosaki was hidden in there somewhere. Hidden deep he was. After being captured he couldn't even hear his old king anymore. All he could here was Zangetsu's nagging about how 'beating on the cell walls will do nothing'.

Well in that respect, Hichigo believed that Zangetsu was dead wrong. If every time they came in and fixed the cell up, if they didn't have a captain come in and use some insanely powerful kido on him, he would of already escaped and been well on his way to ending Kuchiki's life and getting the life he believed he had deserved long before.

One mistake on the shinigami's part and he could be well on his way to freedom. Whoever said hollows weren't smart?

Footsteps nearing broke Hichigo out of his thoughts and he started hitting his fists to the kido strengthened and protected walls. But this time, it wasn't just a low level shinigami like was supposed to be showing up, it was Mayuri Kurotsuchi, Byakuya Kuchiki, and some other ranked shinigami.

"Hitting the wall won't do you any good Kurosaki. Or may I better address you as hollow." Byakuya icily stated, his eyes not even meeting Hichigo's yellow ones.

"For once, FOR ONCE. Someone has the brains to recognize that I'm not that wimp Kurosaki. I'm Hichigo Shirosaki." Hichigo mused, almost looking like a mental patient the way he was now staring at the ceiling. He thought, at least, the crazier he looked, and the less they would expect him to be able to think up or do.

"It doesn't make any difference to me what you call yourself hollow." Byakuya said, his tone just screaming deep-set anger. The reports had come in. His lieutenant had been killed by this abomination.

"You're being transferred hollow." A shinigami in the back spoke up, and by the reiatsu signature was probably a 3rd or 4th seat. "Transferred to some place where hollows really should be." He then spat.

Rolling his eyes, Hichigo met eyes with the shinigami that had spoke up. After receiving a glare that could unnerve most, the shinigami took a step back with out even knowing it. '_Good to know I'm feared._' Hichigo thought for a second, then looked at Kurotsuchi and aimed one question. "So where ya transferring me? Couldn't be much worse than here."

Kurotsuchi let out a chuckle and rolled his head back, then actually becoming the first person outside the cell to meet Hichigo's eyes. "You're my newest specimen! Yamamoto finally gave me permission to have you. And to think, if you hadn't created all this trouble up here, I might have never been able to convince him!" Kurotsuchi chuckled again and smiled widely, exposing all his teeth in hope of a reaction. A reaction, he wouldn't get.

The hollow side wasn't in the mood to react to Mayuri. Even though this guy freaked him out in a way he couldn't describe, he still wasn't going to give the scientist that satisfaction. That victory. That isn't to say there wasn't an ounce of fear coursing through Hichigo's veins currently. As there was. The hollow, through Ichigo's memories knew full well what the scientist did. The tests, experiments, the things that couldn't even be mentioned. Becoming a specimen of the squad 12 captain was not something to take lightly, even in the eyes of someone who was a bit insane themselves.

"Why exactly would you want me as a specimen? I thought I was just a hollow who needed to be got rid of. I would of thought that your opinion after you all figured out I wasn't weakling would be just to get rid of me." Hichigo said, not really believing much of this himself. Even though his overall composure was calm, he wasn't exactly calm. It was hard to make sense of Kurotsuchi and how he worked, and why Kurotsuchi did things was just another part of that.

Kurotsuchi stepped up a bit closer to the cell, also doing another thing that everyone else had been avoiding since their arrival outside the cell. "I don't feel the need to explain myself to you." He scoffed, somehow still keeping that amused expression throughout while he was speaking. "All you need to know is what cage or cell to sit in and when you need to wake up for tests."

Hichigo's expression darkened a bit and he attempted to raise his reiatsu just a bit more. But the new reiatsu suppressers they had put on him were just not allowing him to do so. Standing in a silent rage balling his bloodied fists he cursed out Kurotsuchi in his mind. Then imagining fifty different and unique ways to bring horror to the demented shinigami scientist while he was at it.

After this brought him a little peace his expression softened and he stared at Kurotsuchi with a renewed confidence. "Do ya think I care? Think up whatever ya want you crazy lunatic. I'm not helpless." he reminded the scientist. Even though he barely believed what he was saying.

Mayuri faked being tired in an almost flamboyant and incredibly sarcastic way by putting his hand on his head and giving one of the most fake yawns Hichigo had ever heard. "You tire me you know? But now maybe it's time for you to leave your nice little place here to go to your new home, which I'm sure you won't enjoy." with faked enthusiasm he clapped his hands together and moved backwards as Byakuya and a few other shinigami prepared to open the cell. Byakuya was only there because of his ability with kido, so he hung back until they where almost ready to open it.

Once they were seconds from opening it Byakuya walked up and held his hands out, chanting the incantation quickly. Once there was a hole in the kido, Hichigo went for it. Launching himself at Byakuya guarding the entrance Byakuya in turn finished the incantation and Hichigo was reduced to crashing down the floor with six beams of light constricting him and making it impossible for him to move. Clenching his teeth he struggled, but his persistent struggling was all but ignored. Two of the seated shinigami pulled him to his feet and put cuffs around his ankles, restricting any movement Hichigo could make with his feet other than a tiny step.

Being prodded forward he was lead along with Mayuri into lead, Byakuya not far behind, all while being surrounded by seated members. They all kept a fearful eye on him, even though he was excessively restrained. With reiatsu suppressors he couldn't break through the kido. With the kido he couldn't move his arms or even much of his legs, and the cuffs made it so all he could walk at was a very slow moving small step walk. Almost a shuffle.

Being led through dark hallways he would of much rather been running free through searching for the Kuchiki girl to kill infuriated him, but his expression remained the same the entire time. No showing of any emotions whatsoever. He inside his head though, was beyond pissed. Being restrained so easily and then being shipped off to evil scientist land was not in the escape plan.

After what may have been an hour of being led through various corridor and hallways, the only thing he knew was that it was underground. But he knew where he was going anyways, so all these extra precautions irritated him just a bit. Byakuya had left long before they had gone underground, so it was just Mayuri in the lead along with all the previous shinigami who had been there surrounding him. Stairs could be seen at the side of the corridor and this is where Mayuri came to a stop. Turning around he stared at Hichigo, but only staring at him like a scientist would inspect his specimen.

"I haven't used that passageway since my last prisoner turned specimen!" Mayuri stated. "Good thing I remembered the way, or we might have been stuck there for awhile..."

The shinigami surrounding Hichigo all simultaneously sweatdropped at the mention, as if they already weren't uncomfortable with the whole situation.

Mayuri grabbed a key and approached a door they wouldn't have even noticed if Mayuri hand been putting a key into it. The sound of old gears moving filled the silence until the door opened to the inside. The shinigami surrounding Hichigo took a step forward to go through the door but the scientist only stopped them with his hand outstretched. "No no." he told them like he was talking to little children. "You all can't come in here. Only the hollow is going any further."

Another simultaneous sweatdrop occurred as all those who had walked for the last hour remembered how far, and how dark the way back was.

Mayuri sighed. "I guess I have to be nice." He then grabbed something that seemed to be just behind the door. "This is a modified Jigokucho. It will lead you back." he told them, as he let it go. But as soon as it left his hand it went zooming off in the direction they came from. The shinigami raced after it right away, because if they didn't, they would be lost in the darkness of the tunnels.

Kurotsuchi chuckled and walked through the door. Hichigo with no other options followed.

The room he had brought into, was quite obviously were the scientist stored his specimens. Different cages and clear glass boxes were dominating the room. The specimens inside though, Hichigo wasn't sure on if they were dead or alive. Jars lined the walls on shelves, their contents better left unknown. The high ceilings complete with the constant sound of different systems and experiments that must still by some chance be alive.

The light was dim, but even in the light it would have been hard to make out the other exit in this pure madness. This even made Hichigo shiver a bit. Even more so to know that he would soon be a single piece of this madness.

Mayuri showed the way and went on and on about his various experiments in progress. Hichigo ignored him, though he did listen for any mention of the exit. The exit he knew would be the key to escaping this hell hole.

After walking not so long, lined up against the wall was 3 cells barely tall enough to stand in. Kurotsuchi motioned for Hichigo to go inside, but he just stood.

His patience had come to an end for mad scientists and he wasn't going to take any more direction from Mayuri as long as he could resist. Standing in one spot he did his best to look unconcerned and bored.

But Mayuri had also had enough, and enough was enough. Drawing his zanpakutou in a flash it was up at Hichigo's neck, a wicked grin crossing the scientist's features. "I wouldn't cross me now hollow. My blade is covered in a poison right now, so deadly if I even nick you with it, you will have to take an antidote every day to stay alive."

Pure raw fear went through Hichigo now as he considered being at the mercy of Mayuri for as long as he lived. Mayuri saw this, and of course was filled with joy. "Finally you show emotion." he mused.

Hichigo scowled deeply and if not for being cuffed, kido'ed and bring threatened with a poisonous blade he figured he would of already cero'd the scientist. "You're just full of surprises." the scientist said, pulling the blade away.

Stumbling blindly in the cell, Hichigo's mind raced as the door was shut and locked. The kido released and his arms were free again, though the cuffs at his ankles remained. Immediately trying a hard punch at the bars he realized something unfortunate. The cell bars were kido reinforced as everything else was. Sinking down to the floor, unintentionally Hichigo's hand went to his neck. He felt something sting and brought his hand up to inspect what was going on. On his hand was his own blood. Coming right from were Mayuri's blade had been pressed to his throat.

Hichigo had been fooled.

* * *

End of Chapter 8


	9. Chapter 9

**New King Chapter- 9**

**Yeah... Review, like now.. Or i'll be all sad like forever. A warning for this chapter, insane moments. Also, should I change one of the genres to horror? Just wonderin. **

**I don't own Bleach. **

* * *

He didn't even bother. Didn't bother to try to break down the kido. He knew it wouldn't work anyways. In one action, Kurotsuchi had gained total control over him. If he managed to escape, he would die anyways. If he killed Kurotsuchi, he would die from not getting the antidote. Normally, he would dream of escape, but now that it meant death, he had second thoughts.

He had been in that cell for what may of been a week, he wasn't sure anymore. Every moment he waited for Kurotsuchi to come, instead of one of the subordinates that usually brought him something to eat. By now he was sure the antidote was in the food. Every waking moment he dreaded the next time the cell door was to open. Especially if Kurotsuchi was going to be the one opening it.

He had been trying to get these thoughts to go away, but right now, he couldn't think of anything else. Giving up, He went into what was now his inner world. He spotted Zangetsu right away.

Zangetsu stood on one of the sideways buildings, giving an emotionless expression. Hichigo looked around, and noticed one simple thing. Ichigo was no where to be found. That aside, Hichigo walked towards Zangetsu.

Zangetsu gave an acknowledging glance and stated simply, "You're wondering where Ichigo is, aren't you."

Hichigo nodded.

"Ichigo barely can keep himself together in this inner world. Not to mention materialize anymore. He-"

Their attention was taken when what looked like an almost clear apparition started forming next to Zangetsu. It took a few seconds to materialize, but when it did, it was clearly Ichigo. Or was it?

This Ichigo had what looked to be white streaks going through his hair, and the former bright orange was reduced to a much duller color. At moments part of him seemed transparent, almost flickering in and out. But his eyes told the true tale. His former deep brown irises were now reduced to gray. His expression also told much, since he almost looked brain dead.

"Well now... That's different." Hichigo stated, a bit shocked. His mind flashed back to when his king had fought him mercilessly when his king had the strength to. This Ichigo reminded Hichigo of how close he'd come to his goal. "Damn Mayuri..." he muttered.

Zangetsu walked in front of Ichigo, but Ichigo's eyes flashed no recognition, just stayed their dull gray irresponsive state. But he shocked them all, when he spoke. "You dumbass." his voice said at a whisper. "You dumbass." he repeated.

Hichigo's jaw almost dropped. "What the hell are you talking about? Scratch that, how the hell are you even talking?" he asked in awe.

"You." Ichigo's weak voice continued. "You messed this world up. You almost killed Rukia. You got poisoned."

Hichigo cringed. He wondered quickly how the hell Ichigo could possibly know that.

Hichigo was about to say something, but Ichigo continued. "You are going to kill all of us, king."

_'King?'_ Hichigo thought frantically. _'When did Ichigo start designating me as king?'__  
_  
Hichigo's expression must have matched his thoughts since Ichigo then said, "Surprised? I wouldn't be. It's the truth; I can't control anything in this world anymore. Matter of fact is, I'm barely hanging onto existence."

After the initial shock was gone, Hichigo was ecstatic. His old king was now reduced to be a wandering inner world resident now. He had finally won. But he knew it wasn't the full truth. Truth was, even though Ichigo wasn't consciously fighting back, his mere presence meant that Hichigo couldn't reach his full potential. So in turn, he still hadn't won. Pushing this thought aside, he looked towards Zangetsu again, for some kind of confirmation. Zangetsu just nodded.

Hichigo was going to ask Ichigo something else, but his image started fading away completely from view, starting from his feet. Hichigo stood in true shock, not knowing what to think. Right when the fading reached Ichigo's torso, his eyes flashed the familiar deep brown just long enough for him to say, "Don't kill her." as he faded completely away.

"Is he-"

"He still exists. He just couldn't stay materialized any longer." Zangetsu told the shocked hollow.

They stood in silence for a second, not knowing what to say. But Hichigo broke the silence with by asking, "What should I do, Zangetsu."

Zangetsu gave him a curious look. "You're the master of this world. I couldn't tell you." he replied.

"Damn Mayuri." Hichigo muttered. "Will it rain, when I'm in pain?" he asked his zanpakutou. "When I'm screaming for my life to end, and I sincerely want it to?"

Even Zangetsu was thrown off. Had being alive changed Hichigo this drastically? "You don't know that-"

"I saw that madman's eyes. He looked like he, deeply and truly wanted me to die a painful death." Hichigo muttered almost incoherently. "All these goddamn weird feelings. Fear, guilt, what the hell Zangetsu." Hichigo stared Zangetsu straight in the eye, and Zangetsu noticed one simple thing.

Hichigo's eyes were a deep color of brown.

* * *

Rukia knew she was stupid. She knew she was being reckless, and completely insane, but she didn't care. She needed to see for herself if it was truly just Hichigo left. After going to Yamamoto and basically begging to see Ichigo, Hichigo, or whoever he was, Yamamoto had caved. Only on the one condition that she reported his wellbeing and mental status.

She just hoped there'd be something positive to report on when she came back.

Dealing with Mayuri was a whole another issue. But it was mostly resolved when Yamamoto told Mayuri that she was to be aloud to go, and that the scientist couldn't interfere. That didn't mean that there wasn't some protest… But Yamamoto had made his mind. And there was absolutely nothing Mayuri could do against that.

Now, as she was being led through the creepiest room she had ever seen by none other than Mayuri himself, he turned to her and in almost a whisper "Stay here. I will determine whether it's safe. When I start talking, come to where you hear my voice" Truth is that he wanted to see Hichigo's reaction, seeing that the hollow probably knew what predicament it was in now. To make this even more mentally confusing for the hollow, he had it so Rukia would walk up right after the initial shock.

The hollow was leaning against the back wall of cell, eyes looking up. The cell made it so reiatsu couldn't be sensed by the inhabitant, so that was probably why Hichigo didn't notice. Mayuri clapped his hands to get's Hichigo's attention, and he was startled, but not as startled as when he saw Mayuri as the one at the door. Chuckling, the scientist joked, "Experiment time!" fear flashed through Hichigo's eyes, flickering brown.

This didn't go unnoticed by the scientist, and he quickly remembered this incident even more vividly to record later. By this time, Rukia had heard Mayuri's voice and had walked up behind Mayuri, only to then walk up to the cell and stare directly inside, to whom, she didn't know.

Hichigo now was in a state of confused surprise. _'Asshole, he probably planned it like this.'_He quickly thought, trying to contain himself. Regaining his composure, and getting his eyes to stop flickering so they remained his normal yellow, he turned to the scientist, "What do you want from me now? Finally come to play your stupid games and make me as brainless as all the other pathetic creatures around here?" he spat.

Mayuri sighed. "No.. Unfortunately not yet. Someone insisted on seeing you first." He then motioned Rukia to walk forward, which she did, but Hichigo could just smell her fear.

"I-Ichigo." She murmured. She saw his eyes, she saw everything. It scared her. She could barely believe it. He was still the monster.

This time he didn't know what to say. He swore he could almost feel Ichigo try to call out to him, it made him angry, it made him- Get an idea.

"Rukia…" he responded in the most pathetic voice he could muster.

Her eyes went wide. She couldn't understand anymore, she just couldn't. 'Is it really Ichigo?' her mind raced. She wasn't sure.

"Rukia. Listen to me. I'm sorry for what happened, if I could have stopped it, I would of." Hichigo told her. He hoped he was convincing enough, because if he was, this girl that he wanted so desperately to kill could be the key to his eventual escape.

A single tear ran down her cheek as she grabbed the bars with two hands. "Ichigo.. I don't…"

Hichigo almost grinned, but he kept his fake depressed expression. "It's my fault. Not yours. Please just try to forget about me, go on with your life." He was almost on the verge of laughter. _'Who could be so gullible?'_

Mayuri wasn't buying it. He quickly noted down the manipulative abilities this hollow had and went back to watching the whole thing unfold. He was sure he wasn't going to intervene, but… If Rukia started believing this hollow in his words it could be disastrous for keeping this special test subject. "Rukia." Mayuri spoke. "Your time is up." There wasn't an actual time limit, but he decided it would be best to get Rukia away as fast as possible.

Rukia looked towards Mayuri and nodded, pulling away from the cell and walking away. She gave one last desperate look towards Hichigo before following Mayuri out, but Mayuri noticed one thing before himself turning away.

Hichigo was smirking.

* * *

After returning, Rukia reported to Yamamoto. She pleaded Ichigo's case, but Yamamoto wouldn't hear a bit of it. He knew she was being fooled, as Mayuri had informed him.

But Rukia persisted. Everyday, she went down to Hichigo, talking to him as if he was a long lost friend. He treated her like he thought Ichigo might to gain her trust. All that mattered now is that he had her trust and that she would believe in him. Most importantly, pity him.

Especially, after Hichigo had his first real run in with Mayuri.

It was another depressing day of waiting for Rukia, thinking, or dreading the arrival of Mayuri for Hichigo. He hadn't left the cell since his arrival here a week earlier, but one constant question nagged at his mind. _'Why hasn't Mayuri tested on me yet?'_

Not that he was looking forward to that. That same thing is what were the very makings of his own personal nightmare that plagued him constantly. Along with the poison that now went through his veins. Maybe he could tell Rukia about that too. She seemed to.. Calm him. Somehow.

His thoughts were put aside as he heard footsteps. It was too early for Rukia to come. Hichigo's heart skipped a beat when the demented Mayuri cackle uttered one simple dreaded thing. "It's time!"

Hichigo backed away. He wasn't going to go without a fight. Mayuri or not, he still wasn't going to appear weak. He was going to fight back. As Mayuri opened the door to the cell Hichigo clenched his fists.

"Going to try to fight me?" he stepped closer. "I would think not." he said, as a little dart stuck into Hichigo's shoulder.

Immediately Hichigo's head starting spinning and he didn't have an inkling of balance. After finally crashing to the cold hard floor, his world went black.

* * *

Hichigo awoke with a start to a most depressing scene. He was restrained on what looked like to be a hospital bed. But he knew it wasn't a hospital. Mayuri's special experiment room he knew he was in. He tested them to see if he could get loose, but there was no such luck. He was very stuck.

Mayuri spun around noticing Hichigo finally awakening. "Ah! Finally! You're awake! I was afraid I might have overdosed you for this test. I need you alive and conscious for this." he then walked over and grabbed a syringe. "This should take just a second." he said as he put the syringe in Hichigo's arm.

_'Fire. Fire. FIRE!'_Hichigo thought a he veins instantly felt like they were in flames. His breath was taken from him as it spread all the way through his body, making every single limb feel like it was in never ending burning pain. As he was writhing in pain, Mayuri only observed.

"Hm..." Mayuri contemplated while writing down some notes.

"Please..." Hichigo breathily murmured, "Make... It.." He took a deep breath, as though his lungs were constricted. But they weren't. "Stop..." The fire kept spreading. He couldn't stop it even if he hadn't been constrained.

Mayuri simply chuckled. "It worked a little more effectively than I thought it would." He then pulled out another syringe, and waited till the affects of the first had died out a bit.

Hichigo couldn't hear Zangetsu; he definitely couldn't hear Ichigo either. He was alone, burning, with a madman. It was his nightmare all over again, except this time it was real.

-/-/-/  
He was alone in a room, a plain one at that. The walls were a dull gray. Hichigo looked around frantically, as if he was expecting something. But he'd had this nightmare too many times to not know. But he never did. A loud cackling could be heard from outside, and the blood.. The blood started dripping down the walls. Materializing in the middle of the room was Mayuri, cackling.

Mayuri continued cackling as the blood turned to flames.

_'It can't be possible; it must all be a dream...'_

"It's not a dream anymore!" the scientist cackled, as the flames overcame.  
-/-/-/

Hichigo awoke.

"Has the burning stopped?" Mayuri asked newly awoken Hichigo.

Hichigo who was confused and disoriented still could feel the burning in his veins. But it wasn't as horrible as it was in the beginning. "Somewhat... Gone..." he answered without thinking. It was still very painful, but, not as much when the fire had first overtaken his body.

Mayuri smiled. "Good." as he put another syringe into Hichigo's arm.

This one felt like ice.

* * *

Hichigo awoke in his cell once again. He had no idea of the time, and if for not stating at these walls for hours on end he wouldn't even know where he was. Dragging himself up to a sitting position, he leaned against the wall, trying to ignore the pain.

All the times he ha fallen unconscious, Mayuri had just used some kind of miracle drug to awaken him once again. Every one of those syringes, after losing count at 8, were painful. Most of the affects had gone away except for the burning. No, that feeling had stayed.

His throat burned and he had a feeling to cough, but when he coughed, he had coughed blood. _'Lucky bastards.'_ he though when Zangetsu and Ichigo came to mind. _'Lucky them. They could just tune all of it out.' _The coughing then continued, he couldn't stop it.

His thoughts were again interrupted by approaching footsteps. But this time, it wasn't Mayuri. It was Rukia.

Rukia saw the blood. She saw it all around. _'What had Mayuri done to him?_' she wondered frantically. "Ichi-Ichigo! Are.. Are you okay?" she asked him.

He tried to respond, but all that came out was a strained murmur. Rukia was pissed. More than pissed. She couldn't believe, Mayuri... She turned and there he was, the scientist with a satisfied grin on his face.

"What did you do to him." she said, her voice in a threatening tone. She could barely keep herself from strangling the scientist.

"Tested on him of course." he answered simply. "You think he'd be in my lab if that wasn't my intention from the beginning? It's just unfortunate that I haven't had the time to do it till now!"

"You sadistic freak." she stated. "You think doing that," she pointed towards Hichigo and his less than healthy state, "Is testing?"

"Testing is testing. No matter the end result."

In the blink of an eye Rukia shunpo'ed towards the captain and drew her blade, which he deflected with his own easily. "You think you can fight me unseated shinigami? Unless you want to die, I would suggest you sheath your blade." he taunted.

She knew she was outmatched as well as anyone else. Sheathing her blade she stared up at Mayuri, silently wishing his death. He stepped back and simply said, "I won't inform Yamamoto about this little incident if you leave. Don't let this happen again."

She did her best to nod. But before she left, she had one last thing to do. Shunpo'ing over to Hichigo's cell, she whispered a simple sentence, simple enough to mean the world to the hollow coughing up blood. "I'm getting you out of here."

In between coughing, he grinned.

* * *

End of Chapter 9


	10. Chapter 10

**New King Chapter- 10**

**I don't own Bleach.**

* * *

The next day, they spoke without Mayuri for once. This, they knew was their chance. Hichigo was still in bad shape from the day before, so Rukia's return was most definitely relief. Hichigo was afraid that Mayuri would never let her come back again. But she did, and that's all that mattered to him.

He knew he was relying on Rukia way to much. That it would be harder to kill her... If he still could even..

A conscious wasn't a good thing to get.

Rukia sat outside Hichigo's cell, as he was sitting up against the wall, eyes looking up. Not a word was exchanged for a minute or two, as if they didn't know how to start a conversation.

"Ichigo... How do I get you out of here? She suddenly brought up.

He looked towards her with an almost shocked look. _Was it finally time?_ "Open this cell, and I can find my own way." he told her.

"It's that simple?" she asked.

"No." he sighed. "It's not." Then he told her about the poison, as much as he would have liked to not.

Rukia's only reaction was to wish Mayuri's death even more than before. "Do you know what the antidote is?"

"No." he answered. "The bastard hides it in my food."

Rukia looked at the plate that had been sitting in the cell for quite awhile now. She didn't notice anything unusual about it, but then again, Mayuri was a brilliant bastard. "I only see one solution."

Hichigo looked confused. "And what would that be?"

"You go to Hueco Mundo."

* * *

"Kurotsuchi." Yamamoto simply stated. "Do you know why I needed to talk to you?"

"No idea." Mayuri replied, a bored expression crossing his face while standing in Yamamoto's office. He absolutely hated being called in when he could be in his lab.

"Just what have you done with Kurosaki?" he asked.

"Just non-life threatening experimentation." he replied with a tone of annoyance. That order had been definitely a hindrance. Finding a painful experiment that couldn't endanger, that in itself had been extremely difficult.

"So while Kurosaki was spewing blood all over the ground, he wasn't in the slightest danger of dying?" Yamamoto questioned.

Mayuri avoided the question, "I don't see why you make me keep him alive personally. He could do much better to me dissected and-"

"You really want to know why?" Yamamoto interrupted.

Mayuri simply nodded.

"Do you know how long Ichigo Kurosaki has been a shinigami?"

"Of course I-" Mayuri started to say.

"Less than a year."

Mayuri nodded. "I knew that."

"And in this time he's defeated shinigami who have been training for many more years than he's even been alive? Am I correct?"

"I know all that, so what's the poi-

"The point is he has the potential to be a shinigami captain at the least!" Yamamoto exclaimed, then lowering his voice after his outburst. "If you kill him, we loose the potential. The raw potential that's being tainted by a troublesome inner hollow. I have a job for you Mayuri." Yamamoto stated, his eyes meeting Mayuri's with a deep purpose.

"Find a way to separate Kurosaki and his hollow. When you do, kill his hollow."

Mayuri nodded and left Yamamoto's office, with an idea of just how to do it.

* * *

"Hueco Mundo? Are you insane?" Hichigo asked her, his eyes wide. He knew about the world of the hollows, but he had no idea how it would keep him alive when he hadn't had the antidote.

"You could.. You could go to Aizen..." she mumbled, unsure of why or how she had ever though of this.

Hichigo shifted uncomfortably on the cold floor from just being nervous. "Why would Aizen help me?"

Rukia looked down, ashamed that she had even thought of this. "You could pretend to be on his side Ichigo. He'd keep you alive then."

Hichigo felt like this was wrong to go to the enemy, but then he remembered, _'Why am I concerned about joining the enemy? I'm in the shinigami's damn research lab.'_  
He just knew it for sure now. His personality was merging with Ichigo's. He wasn't even finding that he needed to try being Ichigo. It just was natural.

"Opening a garganta to Hueco Mundo is the same as opening one to the soul society... Right?" he asked her, seeing that he'd opened a similar portal to the soul society not so long ago without even thinking.

"I have no idea..." Rukia said. "I'm not capable of it anyways."

"Well you're a shinigami, of course you haven't." Hichigo then said, soon realizing his mistake.

Rukia looked startled. "Ichigo, how strong has your hollow been lately? Can you still hear him?"

"I have no idea..." Hichigo lied. "He's just...-"

"I get it. You probably don't want to talk about him. Seeing that he's ruined your life and all." Rukia mumbled.

_'I feel so loved.'_ Hichigo thought, not knowing really what to say to her after that.

Approaching footsteps broke their attention as Mayuri walked up, slightly infuriated. "Kuchiki! Didn't I tell you that you weren't allowed to see the subject without me?" he questioned.

She stood up, and looked him in the eye. "Yes." she answered.

"I'm going to speak to Yamamoto about ending your unnecessary visits. For now, get out of my lab."

She nodded and walked away, her head hung low. She couldn't imagine not seeing Ichigo; he made her., Happy somehow.

* * *

"You've got that girl wrapped around your finger, don't you hollow?" Mayuri stated, peering down at Hichigo from outside the cell.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Hichigo said, knowing one slip up, whatever it would be, would probably end up being shown to Rukia. Somehow.

The scientist cackled. "You think you're so smart? Don't you? Don't you? When I split your soul in two, let's see who's happy then?"

With that, Mayuri walked away, cackling in his usual eerie tone. But this time, Hichigo was spooked.

_'Split your soul in two?'_

* * *

Mayuri was consumed by his task to find a way to split a soul. He wasn't going to give up, until he had finally found a way. He would have been lost if it wasn't for the fact he'd been experimenting with soul splitting for quite some time now.

That's why, again, Rukia was able to sneak in and see Hichigo, without Mayuri.

She walked up, and as usual he sat, not doing much of anything.

"Rukia..." he happily greeted."Good to see Mayuri not here."

She nodded. "I don't have long." she then stated. "Yesterday, I found were Mayuri keeps his keys."

Hichigo's eyes widened. "Where?"

"In a room near the normal exit actually. They're all hanging on wall, but today, the door was locked. With a kido barrier."

He stood up. "Do you think you could break through it?"

"With time, but how would I know which key to grab?"

"Just grab them all." he replied.

They were silent for a bit, considering what they were thinking of doing.

"You'll have to distract Mayuri. Then get him away from you somehow."

"I can do that."

* * *

Mayuri was done. Finally what he had labored over for hours, was complete. A procedure that could split a soul that was in a pill size. It had taken him the time it had only because, he had went through the possibility after going through some reports, and finding out about something called a 'viazard'. He only could dream of finding some normal idiot to test it on. But that hollow... That hollow was going to be his first real test.

_'Soon... He will be-'_ Mayuri's thoughts were interrupted by a hell butterfly making its way into the room.

-Hollow hybrid subject is attempting suicide. Test subject life risk.-

"I guess I'll get to test this a little earlier than I thought." Mayuri said with a grin. Grabbing a pill, he went to go test it.

* * *

For the last five minutes Hichigo had been hitting his head against the wall, trying his best to distract Mayuri and give Rukia some time. Blood was gushing out of his nose, but he didn't care.

_Distract Mayuri!_

This was the key to his freedom. He made it as convincing as possible.

"What in the hell are you doing?" Mayuri said curiously, walking up to the cell door, the look on his face telling the rest of the story.

Mayuri looked almost happy. But Hichigo didn't answer and continued to hit his head on the sekiseki wall.

Getting slightly irritated, Mayuri had enough. Opening the cell door himself, he prepared himself to face Hichigo, but he had a plan.

Hichigo as usual launched himself in a vicious attack towards Mayuri, seeing no zanpakutou, he hoped to overpower him quickly.

Mayuri sidestepped and Hichigo crashed to the floor. "Out of practice hollow?"

"Not in your life!" Hichigo spat, going after Mayuri once again.

But this time Mayuri went on the offense, his hand forming a fist, and he sent a direct punch towards Hichigo's jaw.

It connected, and Hichigo was sent hurtling backwards. Fatigue and overall weakness from his time immobile, the experiments, and the sekiseki rock had given Mayuri the advantage by far.

While Hichigo was reorganizing his thoughts, he felt something going down his throat.

"What… what did I just swallow?" he stated, in pure shock.

* * *

"Ichi-!" Rukia came running back, only to see Mayuri towering over Ichigo, who seemed to be trying to cough something up.

"It's no use hollow. You noticed too late."

Rukia ran up to Ichigo, a look of pure concern in her eyes. "Ichigo... What did he do? What's-"

Mayuri pulled Rukia back away, much to her protest. "When the split occurs, it'd be best not to be too close. If you died down here, Yamamoto wouldn't be pleased."

Rukia was pulled back, only left to witness what happened next.

Ichigo was having a full out what looked to be a seizure. He twitched uncontrollably and looked to be in an incredible amount of pain.

"You bastard!" Rukia screamed as she fought against Mayuri's hold. "This is torture!"

"It's a hollow. This really doesn't concern me." Mayuri stated without emotion.

Then, it stopped. Ichigo was motionless, his eyes were blank, his chest unmoving, not breathing. His spiritual pressure, non-existent.

Rukia held back a scream.

Mayuri sighed. "A failure. Yamamoto won't be pleased…" Turning around, he prepared to walk away, when a figure stood.

White hair streaked with stripes of orange, a grey sclera and an almost golden iris, a man stood up from his presumed dead copy. An exact copy in all physical aspects.

Walking over to Rukia, he ignored the shocked Mayuri. The man got down to her level, saying only "Thank you Rukia." when his face was an inch from hers. Without even a reason, a purpose, or even a motive, he leaned in slowly.

After a moment of silence, he did what he intended to do; his lips gently met the petite shinigami's.

She didn't push him away, hugging his larger frame, she wasn't going to let go. His larger frame wrapped around hers, and the embraced for the time. Their kiss, not passionate in any way.

Just a few seconds later he pulled away. Reluctantly, she let him go, and he once again stood at his full height.

With the swipe of his hand, a rip appeared in the air. Black and ominous, an obvious garganta.

"Thank you Rukia." He stated, looking back for a second.

He then turned back away, but before he could move even a foot...

"Wait!" she said, causing him to turn back.

"What?" he answered, in the definite normal Ichigo way of doing things. Not like the man that had just kissed her.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Hichigo Shirosaki. Thank you Rukia."

With that, he stepped through the garganta, having it close up behind him.

* * *

Rukia stepped into 4th division barracks just like she had done every day now for awhile. Going to the last room, she opened the door, and greeted the sleeping inhabitant.

"Hey Ichigo, how ya feeling?" she asked casually, knowing she wouldn't get an answer from him.

The shinigami was in a coma, and had been for a week now ever since the incident in Mayuri's lab. His once bright orange locks now dull and streaked with grey. His eyes were a strange color also, but since they had been closed, Rukia wasn't sure what they were now.

She knew the truth. The one she had been seeing in Mayuri's lab was Ichigo's hollow.

The one she had trusted was Ichigo's hollow.

The one she did her best to protect was Ichigo's hollow.

The one man, who had kissed her, was Ichigo's hollow.

Going over to his bed, were he hadn't moved, other than to breath, she ran her fingers through his hair.

"You idiot… "

She grabbed his hand.

"Why won't you just wake up?"

She squeezed his hand.

The shinigami who had been in a coma for a week, blinked.

"R-rukia?" he struggled to say, his voice coarse and barely audible. His eyes blinked a few times trying to focus his vision.

"Ichigo!" she exclaimed, hugging him unexpectedly.

"What..." he coughed, "Are you doing?"

Her face turned beet red. "Um…" she let Ichigo go, and he struggled out a laugh.

"It's alright... I never said it was bad." He replied. "I've missed a lot, haven't I?"

Rukia punched him in the shoulder. "No kidding strawberry."

"Hey! Don't re-injure the injured."

"Yeah alright…" she agreed reluctantly.

* * *

"Do you understand the conditions of this agreement?" Aizen stated from his throne, staring down.

"I think I do. Antidote developed by Szayel for my services, I think that's pretty clear."

"Well then, welcome Primera Espada, Hichigo Shirosaki."

* * *

Fin.

* * *

** That is the ending to The New King. Finally, I completed a multi-chaptered fanfic. Thanks to all of you that reviewed, and to all of you who didn't, well, I hoped you enjoyed it also. As you all should notice, I left it very very open for a sequel. if you all want me to write a sequel, leave a review stating so. Otherwise, i'll just leave this where it is. The beginning of this story was my first post to fanfiction. It's been a fun journey, and i'll most definitely keep writing! **

**Just to.. Make an end note comment... This story, I believe anyways, has really reflected how i've grown as a writer as I started writing on this site. Hopefully, this will be just a start to my fanfiction writing. So goodbye for now, and leave me a review! (:**


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